Urinary methylhippuric acid isomer levels after occupational exposure to a xylene mixture.

The quantitative relationship between exposure to xylene vapor and urinary excretion of methylhippuric acid (MHA) isomers were studied in the second half of a working week. The participants in the study were 121 male workers engaged in dip-coating of metal parts who were predominantly exposed to three xylene isomers. The intensity of exposure measured by diffusive sampling during an 8-h shift was such that the geometric mean vapor concentration was 3.8 ppm for xylenes (0.8 ppm for o-xylene, 2.1 ppm for m-xylene, and 0.9 ppm for p-xylene), 0.8 ppm for toluene, and 0.9 ppm for ethylbenzene. Urine samples were collected at the end of the shift and analyzed for metabolities by HPLC. The statistical analysis showed that there is a linear relationship between the intensity of exposure to xylenes and the concentration of MHA in urine, that the regression line passes very close to the origin, and that the increment in observed (i.e., noncorrected) MHA concentrations as a function of increasing xylene concentration was 17.8 mg x l-1 ppm-1. Further examination on the basis on individual xylene isomers showed that the slopes of the regression lines for o- and m-isomers were similar (i.e., 17.1 and 16.6 mg l-1 ppm-1, respectively), whereas that for p-xylene was larger (21.3 mg l-1 ppm-1).